JPH11282721A - Method and device for monitoring sequence program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simply discriminate the execution route of a sequence program in each cycle without needing user's labor by performing display in a step that is currently executed and also performing display that can be visually distinguished in steps that are passed in the past in each cycle. SOLUTION: For instance, steps S100, S101, S105 and S107 represent pass steps which are already executed and a step S104 represents a step which is currently executed. A light color token is shown in the steps S100, S101, S105 and S107, a dark color token is shown in the step S104 that is now executed and for example, the light color token is light red and the dark color token is dark red. Thus, the steps S100, S101, S105 and S107 are distinguished from the step S104 that is now executed by the color tone of a token and the execution route of a sequence can be intuitively confirmed by such a manner that the steps S100, S101, S105 and S107 also remain their token display.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of monitoring a program of an automation device, and more particularly to a method of monitoring an execution state of a sequence program (hereinafter, an SFC program) described in an SFC (Sequential Function Chart). About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A first known example of a conventional monitoring method of an SFC program is disclosed in "New Programming Techniques for Programmable Controllers" (Modern Book, 1994), PP. 129-131. This known example describes a method of displaying a token only in a currently executing step.

A second known example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
There is a debugging method of an SFC program described in Japanese Patent No. 41819. This known example describes a method of debugging an SFC program by storing a step execution history as a route table and comparing it with a normal route table created in advance.

Further, as a third known example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
There is a method of debugging a sequence program described in JP-A-335404. This known example describes a method of displaying a currently executed step in a first display pattern and displaying already executed steps in a second display pattern.

[0005]

In the first known example, since the token is displayed only in the currently executing step, when the state transition is fast, that is, when the token moves fast, the step is executed. There is a problem that it is difficult to visually follow the state, and it is difficult to grasp the execution state. Further, in the second known example, there is a problem that the sequence is complicated, and when a route through which a token passes changes in each cycle, it takes a considerable amount of time to prepare a normal route table in advance. Also, in the third known example, by leaving a display on the already executed steps, the unexecuted steps can be checked at a glance, but the execution route for each cycle cannot be distinguished, so that the correct execution in a predetermined cycle is not possible. There is a problem that it is not possible to confirm whether the vehicle has passed the route.

Accordingly, in the present invention, a display is made at the step currently being executed, and a display that can be visually distinguished for each cycle at the step passed in the past is provided.
An object of the present invention is to provide a monitoring method and such a monitoring device that can easily determine an execution route for each cycle of a sequence program.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of monitoring a sequence program for monitoring the execution state of a sequence program, the method comprising the steps of: displaying a sequence program flow in units of steps; Above, the currently executing step is displayed so as to be visually identifiable, and it is also possible to visually identify in what cycle of the sequence program each step has passed for the past step. A method for monitoring a sequence program, which is displayed on the monitor, is disclosed.

In the present invention, the display of the currently executed step and the display of the step that has passed in the past for each cycle are different in at least one of the color tone, size, or shape of the symbol attached to each step. A method for monitoring a sequence program, characterized in that the sequence program can be identified by the above method.

[0009] The present invention also discloses a method of monitoring a sequence program, wherein the sequence program is an SFC program, and the symbol is a token.

[0010] In the present invention, a cycle count indicating which cycle the step is executed can be displayed for each of the currently executed step and the past step. A method of monitoring a sequence program is disclosed.

Further, the present invention relates to a sequence program monitoring device for monitoring the execution state of a sequence program, wherein the sequence program storage means for storing the sequence program in advance, and the sequence program stored in the sequence program storage means. Sequence display means for displaying the flow of the program in steps, and current step display for displaying the currently executed step in the flow displayed by the sequence display means so as to be visually identified. Means, and a passage for displaying in a sequence displayed by the sequence display means, a step which has passed in the past so that each step has passed in the sequence program so that it can be visually identified. And step display means. It discloses a monitor device of a sequence program that.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a control device to which the present invention is applied and a program monitor device of the present invention. Control device 101
Has the same configuration as a conventional programmable controller. The operation unit 101a reads the sequence program stored in the sequence program storage unit 101e according to the interpretation procedure stored in the sequence program interpretation execution procedure storage unit 101d, interprets the instruction,
According to the instruction, data is input from the input unit 101b, processed, and the result is output to the output unit 101c. Here, the sequence program is a program described in SFC or the like, and the execution step storage unit 1
01f stores a step number indicating which step of the program is currently being executed. Also,
The communication control unit 101g is a unit for performing communication with the monitor device 102, and enables downloading of a sequence program and transfer of data such as an execution step number.

The monitor device 102 is a peripheral device dedicated to the control device 101 or a general-purpose personal computer. The arithmetic unit 102a executes the program (sequence program storage unit 101e) stored in the sequence program storage unit 102e according to the procedure stored in the sequence program monitoring procedure storage unit 102d.
Monitor the execution state of the control device 101 (which includes the same contents as the program stored in the control device 101). At this time,
The communication control unit 102g acquires the step number stored in the execution step storage unit 101f of the control device 101, and reflects the acquired step number on the display content from the display unit 102c. In the operation unit 102b, switching of a monitoring method and the like are input.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the SFC program. S
The FC comprises a step 201a and a transition 201b
And a directed connection line 201c interconnecting the step 201a and the transition 201b. Step 201a has a step number (such as S101) uniquely assigned to the step, and is accompanied by an action (not shown) indicating an execution process in that step. Transition 201b involves a transition condition (not shown) from the previous step to the next step. Note that the action and the transition condition are described in some programming language (for example, a ladder diagram).

In general, an SFC program is composed of a plurality of sequence units that can operate simultaneously, and these are called units. By dividing a sequence that can operate simultaneously as a unit and describing it,
The currently executing step of each unit is uniquely determined. FIG. 2 shows an example in which two units of the SFC are displayed in separate windows 201 and 202, respectively. In the monitor device 102 of the present embodiment, the units of the SFC to be monitored are separated from each other. Window. The display range of the SFC can be moved by scrolling each window.

FIG. 3 shows an SFC in the first known example.
9 shows a display example of a program monitoring method. In this figure, tokens (hatched circular symbols) 301 and 302 are displayed in the currently executing steps of the SFC unit displayed in the windows 201 and 202, respectively. Thus, the transition of the execution state of the SFC program can be monitored as the movement of the token in each unit. However, in the first known example, since the token is displayed only in the currently executing step, it is difficult to visually follow the execution state of the step when the state transition is fast, that is, when the token moves fast. And it becomes difficult to grasp the execution state.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a route table in the second known example. In this known example, when the monitoring of the SFC program is started, the history of the execution step number 402 is stored in the route table. In general, SF
Since many types of loops are repeatedly executed in the C program, this loop is defined as one cycle, and the number of cycles executed after the start of monitoring is stored as a cycle count 401. FIG. 4 is a diagram in which the execution state of the SFC unit displayed in the window 201 shown in FIG. 2 or 3 is monitored, and step S104 is defined as the end point of each cycle (hereinafter, cycle end).
And the cycle count 401 is calculated. That is, the initial value of the cycle count 401 is set to 1, and the number of times of reaching the step S104 is added to the initial value and stored in the cycle count 401. Normally, it is not always described which step of the SFC is the cycle end, so that when monitoring is started, a step corresponding to the cycle end is specified. It is assumed that when the route table of FIG. 4 is created, it is specified that step S104 is the cycle end. The SFC program can be debugged by comparing the route table thus created with a normal route table created in advance. However, in this second known example,
When the sequence is complicated and the route through which the token passes changes in each cycle, there is a problem that the work of preparing the normal route table in advance requires a considerable amount of time.

FIG. 6 shows an example of a display according to the SFC program monitoring method of the present invention. In this figure, the execution state of the first cycle shown in the route table of FIG. 4 is shown, and steps S100, S101, S105, S
Step 107 indicates a step that has already been executed (hereinafter, a passing step), and step S104 indicates a step that is currently being executed. Each passing step has a light token 601
(The hatched circle symbol in the figure) is displayed,
A dark token 602 (a cross-hatched circular symbol in the figure) is displayed in the step being executed. In an actual display, for example, the light token 601 is set to light red, and the dark token 602 is set to dark red. In this way, the passing step and the step being executed are distinguished by the tone of the token (here, the color density), and the token is also displayed in the passing step, so that the execution route of the sequence can be checked intuitively. it can. In other words, even when the token moves quickly or when the sequence branches frequently and the execution route changes every cycle, the movement of the token can be tracked visually, and the execution state of the program can be easily grasped. Can be. In the display method in the third known example, the display up to the first cycle is almost the same as the display in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows another display example according to the SFC program monitoring method of the present invention. In this figure, the execution state up to the second cycle shown in the route table of FIG. 4 is shown, and steps S100, S101, S10
5, S107 and S104 indicate the first cycle passing steps, steps S101 and S108 indicate the steps already passed in the second cycle, and step S104 indicates the currently executing step. A light-colored token 601 (indicated by a hatched circle in the figure) is displayed in each of the first cycle passing steps, and a different light-colored token from the token 601 is displayed in each of the second cycle passing steps. 701 (a circular symbol with horizontal hatching in the figure) is displayed, and a dark token 702 (a circular symbol with vertical and horizontal cross-hatching in the figure) is displayed in the step being executed. I have. However, step S101
Are executed in the first cycle and the second cycle, but in such a case, the cycle executed more recently is indicated. In actual display, for example, the light token 601 is light blue, the light token 701 is light green, and the dark token 702 is dark green. In this way, the passing step and the executing step are distinguished by the tone of the token, and the passing step of each cycle is also distinguished by the tone, so that the execution route for each cycle can be intuitively confirmed. That is, even when the movement of the token is fast or the execution route changes in each cycle of the sequence, the movement of the token can be visually followed,
The execution state of the program for each cycle can be easily grasped. Note that a list of token colors for each cycle is displayed as a token color reference 704.

In order to perform such display, it is necessary to designate the cycle end of the SFC unit at the start of monitoring in order to calculate the cycle count described above. In the case of FIG. 7, since step S104 is the cycle end, it is specified that step S104 is the cycle end at the time of starting the monitoring. At this time, FIG.
A symbol (filled triangle symbol) 703 indicating that this step is the cycle end is displayed on the left side of step S104. If the cycle end is designated in this way, the token color of the passing step for each cycle can be changed and displayed.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a token color according to the cycle count. In this figure, six sets of dark and light token colors are defined so that the passage steps of the past six cycles can be determined. In other words, according to the remainder 801 obtained by dividing the cycle count by 6, the token color 8
02 and the token color 803 of the passage step are determined. Note that each token color is distinguished by a color number.

FIG. 10 shows a processing flow for realizing the method of monitoring the SFC program shown in the display example of FIG. A software version of this processing flow is stored in the sequence program monitoring procedure storage unit 102d of the monitor device 102. This processing flow corresponds to a sequence composed of a plurality of units. First, when the monitoring processing is started, the display of all tokens is cleared (processing 1000), and the unit UN (UN
= 1 to UMAX, UMAX: number of units), the cycle count CN (UN) is initialized to 1 (process 1001).
Further, the current step number SN (UN) and the previous step number LSN (UN) of the unit UN are each initialized to 0 (process 1002). Next, the unit number UN is initialized to 1 (process 1003), and it is checked whether there is a window for displaying the unit UN (process 1004). Unit U
If there is a window displaying N ("YES" in step 1004), the current step number SN (U
N) is acquired (process 1005). The data SN (UN) acquired here is stored in the execution step storage unit 102f of the monitor device 102. This current step number SN
(UN) is greater than 0 and the previous step number LSN
If it is different from (UN) (“YES” in the processing 1006), FIG.
Then, the color number COL of the token color (dark color) of the executing step and the color number LCOL of the token color (light color) of the passing step according to the cycle count as shown in (1) are calculated (process 1007).

Further, a light-colored (color number LCOL) token indicating the passing step is displayed in step LSN (UN) (processing 1008), and step SN (UN)
A token of a dark color (color number COL) indicating the currently executed step is displayed (process 1009). Further, the current step number SN (UN) is added to the previous step number LSN (UN).
Is substituted, and the previous step number LSN (UN) is updated (process 1010). Also, the current step number SN (UN)
Is equal to the cycle end step number specified as described above (process 1011), the cycle count C
One is added to N (UN) (process 1012). If the current step number SN (UN) is different from the cycle end step number ("NO" in step 1011), the cycle count CN (UN) is not updated. Also, the current step number SN (UN) is 0 or the previous step number LSN (U
N) ("NO" in step 1006),
The processing from 07 to 1012 is skipped. If there is no window displaying the unit UN (“NO” in step 1004), the processing from step 1005 to step 1012 is skipped. Thus processing 10
13 and compares the unit number UN with its maximum value UMAX. If the unit number UN is smaller (processing 1
"YES" at 013), and 1 is added to UN (processing 101
4) If the unit number UN is equal to UMAX ("NO" in step 1013), the UN is returned to 1 (step 101).
5). Finally, if the monitoring is not completed, the process returns to the process 1004 to repeat the same process (process 1016).

FIG. 5 shows the data structure of the execution step storage unit 102f of the monitor device 102 shown in FIG. The execution step storage unit 102f stores the unit number 501 (U
N) corresponding to the current step number 502 (SN (UN)),
Previous step number 503 (LSN (UN)), cycle end step number 504, cycle count 505
(CN (UN)) is stored, and the processing in FIG. 10 is realized based on the information.

In the present embodiment, a method of monitoring a sequence program in which the passing step and the executing step are distinguished by the tone (color density) of the token has been described. A method for distinguishing a passing step from an executing step based on a shape or the like is also possible. Instead of using the token, it is also possible to color the rectangular block itself representing each step, change the size of the rectangular block, or use a rectangular block surrounded by multiple frames.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show another embodiment.
It is also possible to use a display in which the token shown in FIG. FIG. 9 shows an example of the display of the monitoring method in which the value of the cycle count is added to the display of FIG. In the display example of FIG. 9, when the pointer 901 is moved to the step S101 of interest, a cycle count history 902 of the cycle that has passed that step is displayed on the right side of the token 701 displayed at that step. For example, the cycle count history 902
“1, 2, 3” indicates that step S101 has been passed in the first cycle, the second cycle, and the third cycle. By displaying such a cycle count history 902, it is possible to more easily confirm the execution route for each cycle.

In the above description, the SFC is displayed and the status is displayed on each step. However, the present invention is applicable not only to the SFC but also to a flow indicating another processing flow. Needless to say.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In addition to displaying not only the currently executing step, but also the step that has been passed, a display that can be visually distinguished for each cycle is performed, so that the sequence program can be executed every cycle without the user's effort. The route can be easily determined, and the work efficiency in debugging the sequence program can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a control device to which the present invention is applied and a program monitor device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a window displaying units of an SFC program.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a display example by a conventional monitoring method of an SFC program.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a route table in another conventional SFC program monitoring method.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data structure of an execution step storage unit of the embodiment of the program monitoring device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a view showing a display example of the SFC program monitoring method of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view showing another display example according to the SFC program monitoring method of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a view showing an example of a token color according to a cycle count in the monitoring method of the SFC program shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a display example in which a cycle count value is added to a token according to the SFC program monitoring method of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a processing flow of an SFC program monitoring method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 control device 101a calculation unit 101b input unit 101c output unit 101d sequence program interpretation execution procedure storage unit 101e sequence program storage unit 101f execution step storage unit 101g communication control unit 101h power supply unit 102 monitoring device 102a calculation unit 102b operation unit 102c display unit 102d Sequence program monitor procedure storage unit 102e Sequence program storage unit 102f Execution step storage unit 102g Communication control unit 102h Power supply unit 201, 202 Window 201a Step 201b Transition 201c Directed connection line 301, 302 Token 401 Cycle count 402 Execution step number 501 Unit number 502 Current step number 503 Previous step number 504 Step number at cycle end 5 05 Cycle count 601 Passing step token 602 Executing step token 701 Passing step token 702 Executing step token 703 Symbol indicating cycle end step 704 Token color reference 801 Remainder of cycle count divided by 6 802 Running Step token color 803 Passing step token color 901 Pointer 902 Cycle count history

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A monitoring method of a sequence program for monitoring an execution state of a sequence program, wherein a flow of the sequence program is displayed in units of steps, and a currently executing step can be visually identified on the flow. A sequence program monitoring method for displaying a step of a sequence program that has been passed in the past so that the step of the sequence program can be visually identified. 2. The display of the currently executed steps and the display of the steps passed in the past in each cycle can be identified by at least one of a color tone, a size, and a shape of a symbol attached to each step being different. 2. The monitoring method of a sequence program according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the sequence program is an SFC program, and the symbols are tokens. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a cycle count indicating a cycle in which the step is executed can be displayed for each of the currently executed step and the past step. 1 to Claim 3
The monitoring method of the sequence program according to any one of the above. 5. A sequence program monitoring device for monitoring an execution state of a sequence program, comprising: a sequence program storage unit for storing the sequence program in advance; and a flow of the sequence program stored in the sequence program storage unit. Sequence display means for displaying in steps, current step display means for displaying the currently executed step in the flow displayed by the sequence display means so as to be visually identifiable, Passing step display means for displaying in a flow displayed by the sequence display means, a step which has passed in the past so that each step can be visually identified as to which cycle of the sequence program each step has passed; A sequence comprising: Program of the monitor device.